We now enter on a scene which gives us a complete picture of the Undercliff in all its genuine lines,—for it was the subject of an extensive landslip in the year 1799, when a tract of about one hundred acres was disturbed, the whole sliding forward in a mass towards the sea, rifting into frightful chasms, and alternately rising and falling like the waves of the sea: a cottage was overturned, but fortunately no lives were lost.
THE UNDERCLIFF, Between the Sandrock Hotel & the Chalybeate Spring,—affording the best idea of the romantic character of that part of the Isle of Wight.
The annexed Plate of "the Undercliff, as it appears between the Sandrock Hotel and Blackgang Chine," is introduced in order to give an idea of the general aspect of this singular tract: the wall-like precipice which is the land-boundary rises abruptly on the right: the intermediate space to the sea-shore is broken into a series of craggy knolls and dells: the carriage-road threading its way between immense masses of the fallen cliff,—now conducted along the margin of a dangerous slope or precipice; and now descending into a theatre of detached rocks and wild vegetation; but even here, though the softer charms of scenery be wanting, it proves that ...
—"Whether drest or rude,
Wild without art, or artfully subdued,
Nature in every form inspires delight."
The individual objects in the neighbourhood of Niton, calling for particular remark, are few; notwithstanding the general aspect of the scenery is strikingly wild and sombre. The Light-house will force itself on our attention: the Chalybeate Spring ought not to be passed by unnoticed; but the crowning feature of the district is Blackgang Chine, a scene of the most terrific grandeur.